Railway car construction

ABSTRACT

The underframe means of a railway car includes bolster means adjacent opposite ends thereof. Transition means is mounted at the four corners of the car over the bolster means. Each transition means is of generally channel-shaped cross-sectional configuration and includes an upper flange attached to the side of the car and a lower flange attached to the underframe of the car whereby the transition means is adapted to transfer loads between the underframe and the sides of the car and to support the sides at a horizontal level substantially above the underframe means.

United States Patent [72] lnventor Danilo A. Dominguez Wayne, NJ.

[21] Appl. No. 708,586

[22] Filed Feb. 27, 1968 [45] Patented July 20, 1971 [73] Assignee MagorRailcar Division, Fruehauf Corporation Clifton, NJ.

[54] RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION 9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.-

52 05. Cl 105/404, 105/228, 105/247,105/248,105/362, 105/413 51 1m.c|861d 7/00, B61C1 49/00 [50] Field 01 Search 105/404,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,595,152 8/1926 Grindle105/358 3,470,829 10/1969 Sza1a.............,.. 105/248 863,615 8/1907Levy 105/247 2,567,015 9/1951 Folmsbee 105/362 2,927,756 3/1960 Compton105/362 (UX) Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman AssistantExaminer--Richard A. Bertsch Att0rney1mirie, Smiley, Snyder & ButrumABSTRACT: The underframe means of a railway car includes bolster meansadjacent opposite ends thereof. Transition means is mounted at the fourcorners of the car over the bolster means. Each transition means is ofgenerally channelshaped cross-sectional configuration and includes anupper flange attached to the side of the car and a lower flange attachedto the underframe of the car whereby the transition means is adapted totransfer loads between the underframe and the sides of the car and tosupport the sides at a horizontal level substantially above theunderframe means.

PATENTEflJuLzmsn 3' SHEET 1 UF 2 Q n i .iiimlmw .ii W w I I N g g wi 4iYL IN! W 5% I Q Q I I N h E [r I 58 El l N m Q Q 1". .MHWHIL). R'IHHMI\N INVENTOR fimzzZo 4. fia/m'zgzzez BY w/ ATTORNEYS RAILWAY CARCONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesto a railway car construction and more particularly to a novel sideconstruction of hopper cars and the like.

The present invention represents an improvement in the construction ofhopper cars wherein there is commonly employed in the prior an anarrangement such that the side of the car is supported directly on thetop bolster cover plate thereby permitting the side sill to be tieddirectly to the bolster. The side of the care extends all the way to thebottom of the side sill which lies substantially in the same horizontalplane as the top of the underframe of the car.

This arrangement as employed in the prior art uses an excessive amountof material in the sides of the car since the lower portions of thesides actually serve no useful purpose in a hopper car construction. Thematerial used in the sides may be relatively expensive such as aluminum,and accordingly, this type of construction substantially increases thecost of the car. Furthermore, this excess material increases the lightweight of the car.

Additionally, the conventional hopper car construction involvesexcessive fabrication costs since considerable welding of parts to oneanother is required.

A further disadvantage of known constructions of hopper cars is the factthat the underframe arrangement is relatively complicated and expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, the sides of thehopper car do not extend downwardly so as to be in substantially thehorizontal plane as the top of the underframe of the car. Transitionmeans is supported on the underframe substantially above the bolsters ateither side of the car and extending upwardly therefrom. The sides ofthe car are supported by the upper portions of the transition meanswhereby the lower edges of the sides of the car are disposed at ahorizontal level substantially above that of the top of the underframe.

Accordingly, the arrangement of the present invention employs lessmaterial in the sides thereof since the side sheets are of less verticaldimension than that required in the prior art, and less material isrequired in the side posts. A substantial saving in cost is therebyobtained since less of the relatively expensive material is employed inthe sides of aluminum cars without in any way decreasing the efficiencyor operability of the car. Additionally, the light weight of the car isreduced.

The construction of the present invention also reduces the fabricationcosts of the car since less welding of components is required.

The present invention also permits the use of a simplified underframeconstruction, and the upper structure of the car may simply be loweredinto place and bolted in operative position.

The transition means of the present invention also enables smoothtransfer of stresses between the bolsters of the underframe and thesides of the car. Additionally, conventional wrecking equipment andhydraulic jacks may readily be employed with the invention constructionfor jacking, maintaining and rerailing a car, in the same manner as hasbeen done in the past.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side view, partly brokenaway, of a hopper car according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantiallyalong line 2-2 of FIG. I looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of one of the transition means of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 3looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantiallyalong line 5-5 of FIG. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingswherein like reference characters designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views, a covered hopper car is illustrated inFIG. I and is indicated generally by reference numeral I0. The carincludes a more or less conventional underframe 12 having a first truckand wheel assembly 14 supported in the usual manner at one end of thecar and a second conventional truck and wheel assembly 16 is supportedat the opposite end of the car.

A first pair of stub side sills 20 are provided at opposite sides at oneend of the car, one of these stub side sills being visible in FIG. I. Atransversely extending body bolster 22 is incorporated in the underframestructure and has its opposite ends in abutting relationship with theinner surfaces of stub side sills 22.

A similar pair of stub side sills 24, 241 are supported by theunderframe at the opposite end of the car. A transversely extending bodybolster 26 is incorporated in the underframe structure and has itsopposite ends in abutting relationship with the inner surfaces of stubside sills 24, 24'.

A pair of comer posts 30 are supported at one end of the car, one ofthese corner posts 30 being visible in FIG. 1. A ladder means 32 isinterconnected with and disposed adjacent end post 30. A similar pair ofend posts 34 are provided at the opposite end of the car, and a laddermeans 36 is interconnected with and disposed adjacent end post 34.

The roof of the car is indicated generally by reference numeral 40, anda longitudinal running board 42 extends the length of the car.

The sides of the car are substantially identical, one of the sides beingvisible in FIG. 1 and including side sill means 50 extending throughoutthe length of the side of the car, a side sheet 51 being interconnectedwith and extending upwardly from the side sill. The upper edge portionof the side sheet is in turn interconnected with a side plate 52extending along the length of the upper portion of the side of the car.

A plurality of intermediate side posts 54 are secured to the outersurface of the side in the usual manner. A first bolster post 56 issecured to the outer surface of the side substantially directly over thebody bolster 22. A similar bolster post 58 is secured to the outersurface of the side substantially over the body bolster 26.

A first hopper of conventional construction is indicated generally byreference numeral 60, and is provided with the conventional closuremeans 62 at the lower end thereof. A portion of another hopper isindicated generally by reference numeral 64, the remainder of thishopper having been broken away. It is apparent that the car mayincorporate any suitable number of hoppers, and in a typical example thecar may be provided with three hoppers.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the laterally extending body bolster 26includes a bottom cover plate 66 and a lower web 68, the bolster beinginterconnected with the longitudinally extending center sill indicatedgenerally by reference numeral 70. A top cover plate 72 is provided onbolster 26. The stub side sill 24 disposed at the opposite side of thecar is substantially identical with the stub side sill 24 previouslydescribed.

A bolster upper web 76 extends upwardly from the bolster top cover plate72 to the underside of the sloping end floor sheet of the car, andupwardly extending stiffener posts 78 are suitably secured to theoutwardly facing surface of the end floor sheet. The end floor sheet isprovided with a pair of cutouts 80 at opposite sides thereof forreceiving the upper flange portion of the transition means hereinafterdescribed as well as the lower portion of the side sill meansinterconnected therewith.

A pair of roping devices 82 and 82' are secured to the outwardly facingsurfaces of stub side sills 24 and 24' respectively, these ropingdevices serving as means for towing the car. As seen in FIG. I, theroping device 82 is disposed substantially over the body bolster 26 anda pair of arrows are provided immediately beneath the towing device 82these arrows indicating the points at which jacking of the car should becarried out. A similar pair of towing devices are provided at theopposite end of the car, one of the towing devices 84 being visible inFIG. 1. Similar jacking arrows are provided beneath the towing device84.

Four transition means are provided, these transition means each beingsupported by the underframe substantially over one end of an associatedbody bolster. The transition means are provided at the four corners ofthe car. Two transition means 90 and 92 at opposite ends of the car areillustrated at one side thereof as seen in FIG. I. These transitionmeans serve to support the side of the car such that the lower edge ofthe side of the car is supported at a horizontal level substantiallyabove the upper surface of the underframe, as is clearly apparent inFIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a transition means 90 substantially identicalwith transition means 90 is disposed at the opposite side of the car andsubstantially directly over the body bolster 26.

The construction of transition means 90 will be specifically described,it being understood that each of the transition means is of the sameconstruction.

Referring now to FIGS. 3-5 inclusive, transition means 90 includes amain substantially vertically extending wall portion 100 which joinswith a normally extending lower flange 102. Lower flange 102 has aplurality of holes 104 formed therethrough at spaced positionstherealong for attaching the flange to the underframe of the car ashereinafter described.

Transition means 90 also includes an upper flange 108 which may besecured to the upper end of wall portion I by longitudinally extendingfillet welds 110 as seen in FIG. 5. Flange 108 has a plurality mostclearly in FIGS. 3 and 4 for attaching the upper flange to the side sillmeans of the associated side of the car.

The transition means formed of a relatively strong material such assteel or the like. It will be noted as seen in FIG. 5 that thetransition means is of generally channel-shaped construction, and ifdesired, the transition means could be a channelshaped pressing ratherthan comprising separate interconnected pieces as illustrated.

The outer end surface 120 of the transition means slopes downwardly andoutwardly away from the center of the car as seen most clearly in FIGS.I and 3. The inner end surface of the transition means extendsvertically upwardly for a short distance as indicated by referencenumeral 124 as seen in FIG. 3, and then slopes inwardly and upwardlyalong the portion 126 thereof to terminate in a portion 128 ofrelatively small vertical dimension. This sloping inner end surfacedefines a tapered area A of the vertical wall portion 100 which servesto properly distribute the loads between the underframe and the side ofthe car.

It will be noted that the upper flange 108 of the transition means is ofconsiderably greater longitudinal dimension than the upper edge of theside wall portion 100. This extended length of the upper flange providesa greater area for connection of the flange to the aluminum side sillmeans hereinafter described, permitting a greater number of bolts to beinterconnected between the side sill means and the transition means toinsure a good connection with the side sill means.

Referring again to FIG. 2 of the drawings, the components illustrated atthe right hand side of this Figure have been given the same referencenumerals primed as the corresponding components at the left side of thefigure. The transition means 90 and 90' are supported by the underframestructure over the body bolster, the lower flanges 102 and 102' restingupon the top cover plate 72 of the bolster as illustrated, a pluralityof mechanical fasteners 120 and 120 extending through the holes providedin the lower flanges of the transition means and aligned suitable holesprovided in the top cover plate 72 as well as the stub side sills 24 and24'.

Side sill means 50 previously described is an angle member including avertically extending leg portion 126 and a horizontally extending legportion 128. The leg portion 128 is provided with a plurality of holesformed through longitudinally spaced portions thereof adapted to bealigned with the holes 112 provided in the upper flange of thetransition means 90. A plurality of mechanical fasteners 130 extendthrough the aligned holes in leg 128 and flange 108 for securing theside sill means to the upper portion of the transition means. In thismanner, the side of the car is supported by the transition meansinterconnected with the lower edges thereof at opposite ends of the car.

It is apparent from FIG. 2 that the side componentsat each side of thecar are interconnected in the same manner with the transition means, andit will further be noted that the hopper walls intersect the sides ofthe car at points 134 and 134' just above the side sill means atopposite sides of the car.

As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, the presentembodiment is therefore illustrative and not restrictive, all changesthat fall within the metes and bounds of the claims or that form theirfunctional as well as conjointly cooperative equivalents are thereforeintended to be embraced by those claims.

What I claim is:

l. A railway car comprising underframe means, generally verticallyextending transition means supported by said un derframe means, said carincluding side means supported by said transition means at a horizontallevel substantially above said underframe means to provide a substantialsaving of material of said side means, said transition means being ofgenerally channel-shaped cross-sectional configuration including anintegral upper flange rigidly attached to said side means and anintegral lower flange rigidly attached to said underframe means.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said underframe meansincludes bolster means, said transition means being supported at aposition substantially above said bolster means.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim I wherein said transition meansincludes an upper flange having means for attaching the upper flange tosaid side means, said transition mean also including a lower flangehaving means for attaching the lower flange to said underframe means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said transition meansincludes a sloping outer end surface.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said transition meansincludes'a sloping inner end surface defining a tapered inwardlyextending area of the transition means adapted to distribute loadsbetween the transition means and a relatively large area of said sidemeans.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim I wherein said underframe meansincludes a bolster means adjacent opposite ends of the car, transitionmeans disposed at the four corners of the car, each transition meansbeing supported substantially over an end portion of one of the saidbolster means.

7. A railway car comprising underframe means, transition means supportedby said underframe means, said car including side means supported bysaid transition means at a horizontal level substantially above saidunderframe means to provide a substantial saving of material of saidside means, said transition means including an upper flange, said sidemeans including side sill means interconnected with said upper flange,said side means also including side sheet means supported by said sidesill means, and side posts supported by said side sheet means.

8. A railway car comprising underframe means, transition means supportedby said underframe means, said car including side means supported bysaid transition means at a horizontal level substantially above saidunderframe means to provide a substantial saving of material of saidside means, said side means including bolster means adjacent oppositeends of the car, transition means disposed at the four corners of thecar, each transition means being supported substantially over an endportion of one of said bolster means, said transi means includes asloping outer end surface, said transition means also including asloping inner end surface defining a tapered inwardly extending area ofthe transition means adapted to distribute loads between the transitionmeans and a relatively large area of said side means.

1. A railway car comprising underframe means, generally verticallyextending transition means supported by said underframe means, said carincluding side means supported by said transition means at a horizontallevel substantially above said underframe means to provide a substantialsaving of material of said side means, said transition means being ofgenerally channel-shaped cross-sectional configuration including anintegral upper flange rigidly attached to said side means and anintegral lower flange rigidly attached to said underframe means. 2.Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said underframe means includesbolster means, said transition means being supported at a positionsubstantially above said bolster means.
 3. Apparatus as defined in claim1 wherein said transition means includes an upper flange having meansfor attaching the upper flange to said side means, said transition meanalso including a lower flange having means for attaching the lowerflange to said underframe means.
 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1wherein said transition means includes a sloping outer end surface. 5.Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said transition means includes asloping inner end surface defining a tapered inwardly extending area ofthe transition means adapted to dIstribute loads between the transitionmeans and a relatively large area of said side means.
 6. Apparatus asdefined in claim 1 wherein said underframe means includes a bolstermeans adjacent opposite ends of the car, transition means disposed atthe four corners of the car, each transition means being supportedsubstantially over an end portion of one of the said bolster means.
 7. Arailway car comprising underframe means, transition means supported bysaid underframe means, said car including side means supported by saidtransition means at a horizontal level substantially above saidunderframe means to provide a substantial saving of material of saidside means, said transition means including an upper flange, said sidemeans including side sill means interconnected with said upper flange,said side means also including side sheet means supported by said sidesill means, and side posts supported by said side sheet means.
 8. Arailway car comprising underframe means, transition means supported bysaid underframe means, said car including side means supported by saidtransition means at a horizontal level substantially above saidunderframe means to provide a substantial saving of material of saidside means, said side means including bolster means adjacent oppositeends of the car, transition means disposed at the four corners of thecar, each transition means being supported substantially over an endportion of one of said bolster means, said transition means beinggenerally channel-shaped in cross-sectional configuration including anupper flange and a lower flange, said upper flange having means forinterconnecting the upper flange with said side means, said lower flangehaving means for interconnecting the lower flange with said underframemeans.
 9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein said transition meansincludes a sloping outer end surface, said transition means alsoincluding a sloping inner end surface defining a tapered inwardlyextending area of the transition means adapted to distribute loadsbetween the transition means and a relatively large area of said sidemeans.